Specificity of plant lectins in anti-tumor therapy : state of art

Trabalho Final de Mestrado Integrado, Ciências Farmacêuticas, Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Farmácia, 2014Lectins are carbohydrate-binding proteins, ubiquitously distributed in nature, that specifically recognize diverse sugar structures and mediate a variety of cellular processes, providing biological scripts to decipher the complex codes embedded in the glycome. Several investigations have indicated that lectins are capable of inhibiting cell adhesion, proliferation and colony formation and hence of immense potential in understanding and managing cancers. These lectins are also known to stimulate the immune system, modulate growth and apoptosis of premalignant and malignant cells in vitro as well as in vivo. Pre-cancer and cancerous cells are known to exhibit altered patterns of glycoconjugate expressions on their surfaces. Such changes are easily tractable by the use of appropriate lectins. This work summarizes current research on the plant lectins and recent advances in the development of plant lectin-based diagnostic and therapeutic tools for cancer